Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Can I get an "Ament" for Brother Walker

Current Milwaukee County Executive, Scott Walker, is never reluctant to criticize his predecessor, Tom Ament as being all too willing to waste taxpayer money --- and participating in an "old boy" club, with top County officials helping to feather each others' beds.

Walker has run on promises to open up Milwaukee County government and end the cronyism of the Ament years.

But with a little slight of hand, we find that Walker has now joined the Crony Club, and is not above trying to slide through a few little perks --- like 26% pay raises --- for his fellow county officials.

Without bothering to consult with the Milwaukee County Board Members, Walker has implemented pay raises of 26% for his Chief of Staff, 11% for the Airport Director, and 12.5% for the Facilities Management Director.

In the meantime, Walker is laying off hundreds of union county workers, and continues to cut back funding for parks, buses and other county services.

In his drive to provide big paychecks for the chosen few at the top -- Walker continues to push for privatizing or selling as much of the county's resources as possible --- including Mitchell International Airport, even though the airlines and passengers who actually use the airport, are very happy with the county employees who have done a great job in running it ------- and it draws no money from the county.

It will be interesting to see how long the Citizens for Responsible Government tolerate Walker's current antics. This is the group that organized re-call elections that toppled the Ament regime, and helped to bring in Walker as a supposed "Reformer".

Unless of course, the CRG regards backdoor dealing and slight of hand double digit salary increases for a chosen few top officials, as "reform"

WHAT DO YOU THINK ? YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!